David Blaine

“I hope people remember me as a guy who brought magic to the people. You know, pushed the boundaries of wonder.”

“I'd always wanted to do these types of things - pieces of magic I could put out not as illusions, but really doing it.”

“People haven't even begun to tap into the potential of what the mind is possible of doing. We only use a certain percentage of our brains.”

“My only fear is the unknown.”

“I remember my mother had this deck of cards that her mother had given her and that she passed on to me. It was a gypsy tarot deck that I used to carry everywhere.”

“As a kid I used to hold my breath longer than anybody else, and then I heard stories about people accidently underwater for 45 minutes - how do you recover from that? It's not a miracle. Something allows us to survive.”

“We are all capable of infinitely more than we believe.”

“I believe that fear of life brings a greater fear of death.”

“I remember finding a Houdini book at the library and seeing an image of him chained on the side of a building. He looked so intense and scary, and I couldn't get that image out of my head. That started building up my love of magic.”

“It was just like a digital fixation with cards and math and science and then I started to look at images of great magicians from Houdini down the line.”

“My mother was a teacher, and when she wanted to show me art and literature and science, she'd take me to museums, parks and free exhibitions.”

“I'd go to Coney Island to hang out, and I saw a magician doing a rope trick on the boardwalk. I was fascinated. I guess that's how it started.”

“I think everything I do is normal, not paranormal but normal. It's using the power of the mind to achieve whatever we can endure.”

“I was obsessed with the idea of fasting and isolation.”

“I think that when Evel Knievel crashed over the fountain at Caesar's, it kind of gave you a credibility and then anticipation for everything he did.”

“I just believe that the feeling of wonder is amazing. I am pushing myself as far as I can humanly push myself... I can only hope for the best and expect the worse.”

“Basically, I was a kid growing up with a single mother in Brooklyn.”

“Well, I also love magic, which is, you know, different than showmanship. Magic's an art where you use slight of hand or illusion to create wonder.”

“Whether you're shuffling a deck of cards or holding your breath, magic is pretty simple: It comes down to training, practice, and experimentation, followed up by ridiculous pursuit and relentless perseverance.”

“When I was about 19, I shot a tape of me doing magic just to people on the streets, and I would edit together all the reactions and I kept pushing this idea, and then ABC came on board and made my first show.”